TGIF

My latest Bloomberg column is out this morning. It's the first one in which I said something REALLY  inflammatory about Wall Street (even though 100% true) and I was sort of dreading logging into my Bloomberg email to pick up the backlash. Once, and this is not a joke, somebody threatened to strangle one of the other women columnists with her own pantyhose. (Every now and then Bloomberg management has to go talk to a Wall Street firm about an employee because of threats against the columnists that may or may not be serious.)Writing can be a scary way to make a living sometimes. To my surprise there were only 3 emails from people who disagreed with the premise that "it's hard to make a living legally on Wall Street." Instead my email inbox was full of stories from Wall Streeters and ex-Wall Streeters who told me of their own ethical dilemmas and said the column was spot on. I did get one good email from a famous person I will not name (no, it isn't Warren Buffett) who said that I was totally wrong about one thing -- there is NO alpha whatsoever and therefore almost EVERYTHING that happens on Wall Street is the result of some illegal or at least illegitimate activity.

I think that's a stretch. I have seen too many market inefficiencies and known too many good stockpickers in my day. Yes, 90% of the money managers underperform the indices but that's because the other 10% take all the profits. True, some of them do it unethically, but there are those who do it correctly.

It's just that being ethical is an obstacle to getting ahead on Wall Street. It's a place where you are disadvantaged by doing the right thing, much more so than in most businesses.

In a future Bloomberg column I will probably be bringing some of these responses together and discussing their themes. Can't wait!